Traffic, traffic, traffic. Traffic solves a lot of problems for dealerships. You have to get traffic. You have to get people in the door, the phone to ring, and the door to swing. On the latest Mind Your Own Business episode, your host Jonathan Dawson discusses ways to utilize different market strategies to engage more traffic.
When deeply diving into how dealership staff members can self-generate traffic, Dawson encourages dealers to look into the methodology of the four primary approaches to solving marketing questions. It’s important to note these four approaches are not all created equally, not all are on the same level of effectiveness, and not all have the same costs. However, Dawson explains the approaches in the order based on how he believes dealers would operate.
- Pay for exposure/opportunity- AKA PPO
- This approach is paying to have the opportunity or exposure in the marketplace. Dawson explains, “If dealers ever spent money solely for the purpose of a targeted audience to see or hear its message, then you have already partaken in this method.” To illustrate, if a dealer has utilized a billboard, television, radio, or social media- there is no guarantee anyone has heard or seen it. Still, you’re paying upfront money to have the exposure.
- Pay per lead marketing
- Dealers will pay money in this situation in exchange for a contact, such as an email address, phone number, a conversation, or the ability to capture something from them.
- Pay per sale
- Dealers only pay if a transaction is created. In the automotive sector, Dawson refers to it as the “Bird Dog Fee,” which only gets paid in the event that a sale occurs.
- Free marketing mode
- Dealer participation results in a one-time low-cost, long-term residual benefit and payment for exposure, opportunity creation, and relationship building. Dawson states, “Expanding your marketing strategy by spending money once on a low cost and then enjoying the long-term return will benefit your dealer more.” For example, giving a consumer a keychain, depending on the style of the chain, will stay on their key fob for years. “You spend only a small amount on the keychain,” Dawson says, “but the customer may have it attached to their keys and handle them for years.”
Ultimately, Dawson encourages dealers to sit down with their teams and establish a goal. Ask each team lead how intentional they are in all four approaches and how effectively they perform those methods. What most dealers don’t know, expresses Dawson, is that you can utilize each method while also using the expansion of social media to train your salespeople.”You can train your people to utilize their customer’s social media and broaden your dealers’ advertising methods.”
Dawson examines the questions dealers should be implementing in order to implement these marketing strategies more effectively. Such as: how many salespeople know how to complete a sale and then broadcast it on their Facebook lives? Or how many know how to illustrate their Jones effect properly?
